There and Back Again
by star-chan89
Summary: Megumi moves to the big city as she tries to figure out who she is and what she really wants out of life. S/M eventually, canon pairings. Ch.2 up!
1. Prologue

"_..Like when someone commits suicide, they wouldn't ever go through with it if they could see another possible path in the road. See an end in sight to their pain."_

--

Prologue:

I sat on the bus staring out of the dirty window, watching all of the skyscrapers pass by rapidly as I thought over the past few days. Everything had happened in a whirlwind too fast for me to realize that my whole life would be changed in an instant. It had all started innocently enough, when had things gone so wrong? He had gone too far yesterday and I finally realized that I couldn't take the abuse anymore. If I stayed in this situation any longer I was going to lose it all. My comfort zone was no longer my comfort zone but now some kind of cruel and unusual punishment. I'd have to be some sick kind of person to want to stay even if it was my home…

_I had made the biggest mistake in awhile. It had become apparent to me that sleeping was dangerous. Sleeping was dangerous. It entailed leaving myself completely defenseless and unable to protect myself from any intruders that came in, although I knew that truthfully there was only one intruder I was worried about._

_I had stayed up late that night waiting until he fell asleep before I could relax enough to finally lie down. But still, I couldn't sleep the hours passed until finally I was too tired to count and fell asleep._

_I was lying in my bed sleeping peacefully, dreaming of nothing really. Suddenly a hard body landed on my bed and hands grabbed my wrists pinning me down. Frantically, I turned my head away from the lips I knew were surely heading towards mine. I writhed in his grasp, struggling as much as I could even though I knew that if he had really decided that today was the day he was going to take me, there was nothing I could do to stop him. _

_"Megumi, Stop! We both need this." He said roughly as he tried once again to kiss me. I looked around for a weak point, anything to distract him long enough to get away. I suddenly spotted that his arm had moved closer to my face while he fought to keep his grasp on me, and bit down on his arm as hard as I could. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through me as he jumped away from me hissing and rubbed his forearm. This was it._

_"I don't need or want anything from you" and before he could say anything else or reach over to grab me again, I jumped and ran into my bathroom locking the door behind me as tears threatened to pour from my eyes. _

_And that was when it all became clear. _

_It had all started out as playful touching when I was too young to really understand what was going on. But now I'm an adult and if I didn't leave soon he was going to rape me. _

_The revelation swirled around in my head pushing me severely close to having a mental breakdown. Things had gotten worse since I had come back home. He was becoming more forceful. Sneaking in my room at night or the wee hours of the morning, trying to cop a feel every time I walked past him, and his filthy comments about all of the things he would love to do to me if I gave him a chance… about the things he was sure my body needed. I scoffed at the thought. If anything he was destroying every fiber of my being._

_And I'm not sure exactly was it was, maybe the panic from the most recent attack or my instincts clawing for self-preservation but I realized that I had to leave…before I completely lost control of myself._

_It was hard to finally wrap my head around the idea of leaving, but I knew it had to be done. I had money saved up from my college fund and I could get a job and find a place, I was definitely old enough. Really, all I had to do now was build up the courage to finally leave…_

--The bus ran over a large pothole jostling Megumi and pulling her out of her thoughts.--

It's a scary feeling to be out on your own for the first time. Even when I had been taking my medical classes, I always knew that if things went wrong I could go home. That my mom would take care of me…even thought she had no idea what was really going on. I shook my head at those thoughts, no need to be negative. My days would be hard enough without worrying about what he was doing. I knew that he would take care of my mom. He always had even though he was constantly trying to mess around with me.

With those worries pushed to the back of my mind, I noticed that I had finally arrived. Today I would be walking around trying to get a feel of the city. I knew that I wouldn't actually be able to live so close to all of the sights and the nightlife, but it wouldn't hurt to look and dream, right?

You see, music had always been a major passion of mine. I had always been fascinated by the range of musical instruments and all of the ways it was possible to express yourself. It was such an easy medium to work with and I found myself running to is as a refuge in my darkest moments. My parents, my mom especially, had always wanted me to be a doctor after my father and grandfather before him. After 5 years of making mediocre grades I realized that no matter how much I wanted to do it to make my parents proud, if the passion wasn't there I would never truly get better at it and just end up being stuck with a job I would never really enjoy for the rest of my life. It was a noble thought helping the sick to become healthy again and generally making people's lives better, but if I was truly honest with myself I knew that that wasn't really what I wanted. I had always tried to convince myself that music was just another hobby, but as my classes became harder and harder I found myself running to my guitar more and more often. One of my roommates heard me one day and asked me why I was going to become a doctor when I was always singing and playing my guitar instead of studying.

And why was I? To please my dead father and the grand father I hadn't seen since I was 5? What about my dreams, was I supposed to just pretend they didn't exist?

Those thoughts weighed heavily on that night and influenced my decision to drop out of college, a decision which horrified my mother who thought I was going to become a bum, and come back home.

But now, here, my dreams seemed so much more tangible. As I walked around spotting familiar sights I had only heard of or seen on today I realized that I had finally arrived. All of the great stars had been here, so many people had been discovered and celebrated their fame here, and this was my chance to become one of them. I just had to get my foot in the door...

--

A/N: I know I said I would wait but time is pressing at the moment, and I need to get as much done as I can. Anywho, this is probably the most unpleasant part of the story; things should pick up from here.


	2. Chapter 1

Yes, today was a day for action

A/N: As you have probably realized, this story takes place in an AU. I still haven't quite decided on the setting of the story, so it's going to be ambiguous for the time being or maybe even the rest of the story. Ch.6 of bodyguard is complete and should be out soon enough.

Disclaimer: This is for the prologue, this and all future chapters: Don't own anything except for maybe the plot which isn't terribly original either.

--

_All of the great stars had been here, so many people had been discovered and celebrated their fame here, and this was my chance to become one of them. I just had to get my foot in the door…_

--

**Ch. 1**

My first week flew by fast; I had been staying at an old run-down motel as I looked for a more permanent place to live and a job to do while I waited for my fame. I actually hadn't even had a chance to really think about getting a gig. I didn't know where to start. I sighed as I rolled around in the small full-sized bed trying not to imagine what might have been going on in it before I slept there.

Hitting the alarm clock I realized that I had managed to get absolutely none of my goals accomplished this past week. Absolutely nothing, zip, nada, zero. Since when had I become such a failure? And this was supposed to be my dream; maybe I was just a mediocre person in general?

That thought had been lingering in the air for the last few days making me feel even less like going out into the world and trying. What would be the point if I was going to fail anyways?

But I knew that I had to get up and do something today, if I didn't I would just be stuck here or worse end up having to go back home, and that was definitely not an option.

I finally got out of bed, sluggishly, and headed over to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the day.

Yes, today was a day for action. Today was _the_ day and I was ready to grab the bull by the balls or horns or however the saying goes. I would let nothing distract me from my goals, not even my own doubts.

I stepped out of the shower moments later, quickly toweling off and throwing on a pair of faded jeans, a tank-top, and some flats. My eyelids drooped heavily reminding me of just how little sleep I had actually gotten last night. Stepping out of the building, I yawned enjoying the feeling of having my eyes closed as I decided that I would not fully wake-up until I had my daily cup of coffee. I slipped into the nearest Starbucks reveling in the heavenly aromas wafting around my head.

Yes, this must be what heaven is like.

The line wasn't long this early in the morning and soon enough I was standing off to the side anxious to hear my name be called.

Only a minute had passed and I was beginning to feel impatient. How hard was it to make a cup of coffee? It's not like they had to climb up and gather the coffee beans or anything.

"Me…gum..ee?" I grimaced as the butchering of my name brought me out of my reveries. As I rushed forward to grab my drink, I bumped hard into the girl that had just turned around with her drink spilling it all over my chest.

Could today get any worse?

I gasped as my body finally registered how cold the drink was. I definitely didn't enjoy the feeling, but I was quite grateful that it hadn't been a cup of scalding coffee. The last thing I needed was 3rd degree burns as icing on the cake.

"Oh!" she dropped her cup, raising her hands to her face, looking absolutely mortified. "I'm so, so sorry." Her face was getting redder and redder by the second as she quickly turned around to get some napkins. I walked over to the counter to grab my drink from the guy who was obviously trying to hold back his laughter. I glared not really enjoying the feeling of being the butt of his joke.

The girl had returned by then, and we stopped at the nearest table her handing me the napkins she had collected as I tried futilely to dry myself off. I silently wished that I could die right there, or at least that I had worn any other color than white today.

--

Once I had gotten myself as dry as possible, I sat down and started drinking my coffee trying very hard to ignore the fact that I could hear people whispering about my little accident.

"Umm..Hi, do you mind if I sit here?" I looked up noticing that the girl who was standing in front of me was the very one whose drink was now on my shirt.

"Not at all" I motioned for her to sit down in the chair across from me. I took this as a chance to actually get a good look at her as I had been too distracted with the incident earlier to get a good look at her. She was slightly shorter than me, maybe three inches or so, and her body was lean but athletic as if she participated in some kind of sport or something. She definitely hadn't developed very much as far as I could tell and the feeling of innocence that seemed to surround her led me to believe that she was probably somewhere in her late teens. As she finally settled into her seat, she smiled brightly at me, her dark blue hair concealing her face from my view as she looked down taking a sip of her drink before clearing her throat.

She shifted for a moment, settling in, before holding a hand out to me "Hi, I'm Kaoru" her dark, almost black eyes, radiated warmly.

I took her hand in mine shaking it gently. "I'm Megumi"

"Sorry about earlier!" she blurted out, looking remorseful as her eyes shifted down to my shirt and back up again to meet mine.

"No, no, It's okay. I should've been paying more attention" I laughed as I waved my hands around furiously in an attempt to show her that I was okay with how everything had turned out.

"Glad you're not too mad."

"Of course not, at least I'm officially awake now." I scoffed taking another sip. "Not like I was having all that great of a day anyways" I muttered under my breath, sighing as I closed my eyes.

"Oh?" I opened my eyes surprised that she had heard me. I looked up to see her gazing at me intently, while sucking on her straw with her eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Nothing special, I just moved here and I've been having a bad week long story" I trailed off hoping that she would drop the subject.

"I have time"

No such luck.

I sighed again staring into space. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to…I was just wondering what brought you here…"

I held up a finger to signal that I just needed a moment to put my thoughts together. "I'm…a bit of a musician and I guess you could say that I'm looking for fame and fortune like everyone else." That was about as simple of an explanation as I could give without dipping too much into my personal life.

"Is that all?"

"Yes." She nodded her head, but I could tell that she didn't really believe me.

"So then what has made your week so bad, besides me ruining your shirt." She winked at me as she said that. I had a feeling that this would be quite the interesting story of how we met if we became friends one day.

"Well, let's see….I just moved here, I don't know anyone, I don't have a job, I don't have a place to stay, and I have absolutely no idea on how I'm going to get discovered." I said exasperated as I counted off the growing list on my fingers punctuating each point.

"I see." Kaoru's eyebrows furrowed together for a few seconds before her face suddenly relaxed again, a broad smile settling over her face. "I think I can help you with most if not all of those."

She sat back in her chair grinning as if she held the key to all of life's secrets in her hands, and I couldn't help smiling back hoping that she really did have all of the answers. "As far as having just moved here, well that'll fix itself with time, don't worry…and now you know me" she stuck out her tongue childishly "so you can't say you don't know anyone anymore. If you need a place to stay, me and my roommate have been looking for someone to split the rent with for awhile and we can ask her about the whole job and discovery problems." She laughed as she finished off the sentence.

I'm sure my face held a surprised expression by this point. "Wow, you really do know how to fix everything." I laughed feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I couldn't help but remember that phrase about how fate worked in mysterious ways.

"If you'd like, we can stop by my place after we finish up here and you can see how you like it"

"Sounds like a plan…roomie" I tacked onto the end and held out my hand to her again.

She gave it a firm shake and smiled cheekily, her eyes narrowing a bit. "You're already planning on moving in and you haven't even seen the place?"

"Trust me, anything would be a step-up from the ratty motel I'm staying at now." I chuckled. This was probably the lightest I had felt in awhile, nothing too forced.

"You're probably right, I don't live too far away how about we head out now and I'll show you some of the sites around town on the way there…roomie."

We walked out to her car and chatted easily on the way to her apartment. The building was nice a nice size about 10 stories and looked almost like an overgrown boarding house. She walked up and unlocked the front door and we headed over to the elevator off to the side. I was actually pretty excited about getting to see the apartment; Kaoru didn't seem too delusional and her roommate was sure to be cool too. At least something was finally turning out right, these days everything seemed to be so unobtainable and suddenly the stars were aligning in my favor.

"Megumi?"

"hmm" I was brought of my thought again and felt a bit embarrassed for being so involved….then again, after this morning's fiasco I should never have a reason to be embarrassed around Kaoru again. I was also a bit surprised that I had managed to walk out of the elevator and to a door behind Kaoru without even noticing. That was a habit I was going to need to break now that I was in the big city.

"We're here, welcome to my home!" she gestured wildly with her arms as she opened the door.

I slipped around her to get a better view as I walked in. It was quaint; the wood floors had seen better days and the walls were all painted white, but the knick-knacks and furniture managed to add personality to what might have otherwise been a bland place.

"Not bad…" I trailed off already beginning to imagine myself fitting in here. "So which room is going to be mine?" I turned around to Kaoru who smirked back at me.

"Right this way." She said as she walked past the kitchen and livingroom, and took a left down a hallway her hand signaling me to follow her. She pointed across the hall from two doors "That's the bathroom and _this_…" she walked to a door at the very end of the hall and opened it wide to let me in. "will be your room if you decide to move in with us."

I walked in and was a little bit disappointed but kept from showing it on my face. The room was small, very small actually, with just enough room for a queen size bed, a night stand and maybe a small desk. I walked over to two mirrored, sliding doors and found that the closet was very small as well. "It's….cozy" I finished lamely.

Kaoru laughed "Very, but at least it's affordable and clean"

"True" I said turning back around to her at last. "Well I honestly don't think I'm going to be able to find anything better" I winced at how rude that must've sounded "and even then I'll probably get stuck with crazy roommates….and I am anxious to get out of that dirty old motel so…I'll take it."

"Great" she nodded and we walked back into the living room to discuss details. We spent about an hour talking about the portion of the bill I'd have to pay each month and the random traditions her and the other roommate honored and who did chores when. Still, it seemed like this was a pretty good deal. Finally, we walked down to the landlord where I filled out the necessary paperwork and we were all ready to move in.

"So…ready to go by 'your place' and pick up your stuff?"

"Yeah, let's head out."

This time we rode in a comfortable silence that gave me a chance to go through my thoughts of the whirlwind events of today.

"Make a right here." As we drove up into the parking lot I could see Kaoru's face scrunching up already. "Told you it was a crappy place."

"Good thing we're getting you out of here tonight then."

As I packed, Kaoru sat on the bed with her legs crossed watching and taking note of each thing I shoved into my suitcase. Her frown seemed to deepen the more I packed. "You weren't kidding when you said that you didn't bring much"

"It was a spur of the moment decision" I turned then and went into the bathroom hoping that she would drop the subject; this time she did.

After slipping my toiletries into my suitcase I finally zipped it shut.

"You know, we're going to have to go shopping, right? You'll never make it out here with that pitiful wardrobe."

"You're probably right." I sighed "Okay." She was finally smiling again. Had I really brought so little that she was concerned?

On the way back to what was now our apartment, Kaoru explained to me that the other roommate Tae was a waitress and that she probably wouldn't be there when we got back. Sure enough, she wasn't there and she still hadn't arrived home 4 hours later when I finally decided to go to bed.

"Well, she's sure to be here tomorrow morning for breakfast. Goodnight Megumi" she said as she turned off the tv and headed for her own room.

"Goodnight Kaoru"

--


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: At the end, I'm imagining Kenshin playing Havana (as performed by Kenny G) it would be the 3rd video on youtube if you typed it in….and finally Sanosuke makes an entrance! (A very brief entrance, but I'll take what I can get.)

"**Do you believe in love at first sight, or do I need to walk past you again?"**

**-anonymous**

--

_"Well, she's sure to be here tomorrow morning for breakfast. Goodnight Megumi" she said as she turned off the tv and headed for her own room._

_"Goodnight Kaoru"_

**Ch. 2**

I awoke the next morning feeling sore all over as I stretched and got out of the bed. I could already smell breakfast being made in the kitchen and wandered into the bathroom to freshen up before I graced everyone with my presence.

"Good morning ladies" I said stifling a yawn and smiling. At the stove there was a woman; she looked to be about my age, with light brown shoulder length hair and an apron on. She seemed quite maternal and mature actually the more I thought about it.

Turning around and smiling she said "Ah, you must be Megumi. I'm Tae, nice to meet you." She then turned back towards the stove continuing "We're really glad to have you here; the rent was getting to be too much for us."

Kaoru interrupted at this point. "Actually Tae, that's what I've been meaning to ask you. Megumi is looking for a job and I was wondering if there were any waitressing positions open at the Akebeko?

"Actually, I think we _could_ use a hand or two…Maybe I can bring her in on Saturday and we'll see what Aoshi thinks?"

"Sounds great" Kaoru's eyes met mine and she winked. She whispered just low enough for only me to hear "They have an open mic night every Friday and Saturday so that'd be a good chance for you to get your music out as well."

Sitting down at the table across from her I said "I really don't know how to thank you."

Kaoru held up a hand to silence me "Don't worry about it; it wasn't any trouble at all. So…any pl-"

She was cut off by Tae's entrance into the room "Breakfast's ready!" I jumped up to help Tae carry the plates over. "Wow, smells delicious."

"I figured you'd be starving after all of the heavy lifting you did yesterday." I didn't bother to correct her about how little I actually had, Kaoru did it for me.

"That reminds me, Megumi only brought one suitcase with her." Tae almost spit out her drink and looked over at me surprised.

"Really?" she was looking over at me incredulously and I ducked my head. I really hadn't though that it was that big of a deal.

"Yes" Her attention returned back to Kaoru and for that I was grateful. "Actually, she said that we could take her shopping. I was thinking we'd show her some sites and buy a few things today?"

"Sounds like a plan"

It's a funny feeling to listen to two people discussing you as if you're not even there.

"I'm still here ladies" they both looked over at me surprised, and I could tell that they had completely forgotten about me during their conversation about all of the things I would need.

We spent most of the morning and the afternoon running around from store to store and by the end of our trip I was utterly exhausted. Kaoru and Tae helped me to carry the bags into my room and I fell onto my bed soon after without taking out anything and fell into a deep sleep.

If there was ever one thing that I enjoyed most about the big city, it was the fact that for once in my life I could go to sleep and not be afraid about what I might wake up to.

--

The next few days went by at an agonizingly slow pace. Tae usually went to the bar during the day to help get things ready for the night and Kaoru went to work too; I had never actually thought to ask where Kaoru worked though. During the day, I usually lazed around and watched tv, sometimes I would cook dinner so it would be ready when Kaoru came home as Tae was usually out until after I went to bed, and at other times I would leave the apartment and go around doing more sight-seeing. There weren't many of those days though.

Actually, looking back on it those days weren't so boring really, but I was anxious to get my life started and I knew that Saturday was the beginning. Friday night I was pretty keyed up and had a lot of trouble sleeping, but when I did finally get to sleep I didn't wake up until Saturday afternoon and for once I was happy that I had wasted half the day sleeping.

When Kaoru came home she came into my room and informed me that we would be leaving for the Akebeko in three hours.

I frittered away two of the hours and then ran off to my room, quickly throwing on a black leather skirt and a red corset top; before running a brush through my hair briskly, and looking myself over in the mirror. Not bad. I had a sneaky suspicion that the guys at the club were going to be drooling all over me and at that thought I slipped out of my room and met Kaoru at the door.

"Dressed to kill, eh?" She raised an eyebrow.

"You know it" I smirked back and we drove off towards the Akebeko. me still feeling unusually anxious and glad that we were going to a bar where I could knock back a few drinks to calm my nerves.

Once we arrived I studied the building for a moment taking in the Industrial brick structure. It actually resembled an old factory which led me to believe that it might've been converted at some point. As we made our way in I moved away from Kaoru and sat down at one of the tables trying to get a feel of the place. It was a bit dark inside, yet welcoming. No one seemed too seedy and I figured it probably wouldn't be such a bad place to work while I waited to be discovered. If nothing else, it would help to cover the rent and that was definitely a top priority of mine at the moment. I was taken out of my thoughts as the sound of someone sitting across from me and looked up to find Kaoru gazing at me curiously.

"So, what do you think?" she handed me a glass and trusting her I took a big gulp before placing it back on the small table.

"Not bad at all, I think I can see myself working here." Now, tell me more about the open mic night?"

"Well, it's only an open mic night by name really. Aoshi screens everyone to make sure that they're up to his standards before letting them perform up there. But the regulars are pretty good. Actually, my favorite should be up any second now. She looked back at the stage dreamily. 'Must really be something' I thought to myself. The lights in the main part of the room surrounding the stage dimmed even further and everyone quieted up almost immediately. A tall lanky man with hair that seemed to defy gravity walked up behind a piano that was at the back of the stage and began to play. I couldn't really make out his features but I could tell that he was attractive even from where I sat. I watched him almost transfixed until I noticed the figure that was now standing behind the microphone with a saxophone hanging from the strap around his neck. I wished that I had grabbed a table close to the stage and was about to ask Kaoru for more information when I heard him began to play. Again, my attention was drawn back to him with his long reddish hair emphasized by the red lights fixed on the stage. And I could only think of one thing: I had to have him.

--

A/N: that probably wasn't worth the wait……will try to get bodyguard out soonish. ;__;


End file.
